UPDATE: Deadline has been pushed to Thursday, March 31, 2011 (at 11:59 PM EDT/GMT-4). Please send in your entries! Even if they've competed before, as long as it hasn't won more than 1 award, it'll be fine.

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T-MODE is back, this time at the Hilton Washington DC/Rockville in Rockville, MD. The dates are April 15-17, 2011. With that in mind, I am pleased to announce the rules for this year's AMV Contest.

Eligibility: Who can enter, what can I enter, when’s the deadline?

Any person is allowed to enter T-MODE’s AMV Contest, except any T-MODE staff helping with the running of the contest and/or the counting of the ballots. This includes any pre-screening viewings to determine contest finalists.

Attendance at T-MODE is not required to enter the contest; attendance will not boost your chances of winning or making the final cut.

Entrants are only allowed a maximum of two (2) submissions, but only one (1) entry per category, per editor. By submitting an entry, you certify that your entry is your own work. Entries that are discovered to have been created by someone other than yourself will be disqualified.

Entries are open to videos that have not won first prize or Best in Show at more than one anime convention in the last year. Entries must have been created after April 1, 2010 to be eligible for consideration.

Entries will be placed according to the following categories:

* Action * Comedy * Drama * Romance * Trailer/Parody * Upbeat/Dance

T-MODE reserves the right to re-categorize videos if we feel it will be more appropriate in a different category. We will notify such entries ASAP if this is necessary.

Entries MUST be received by the end of the day (11:59 PM Eastern Time) on THURSDAY, March 31, 2011 to be considered for the contest.

Content: What should be in my entry?

Video footage must be primarily anime- or video game-centric. Live-action adaptations of known anime or video game titles are acceptable. Please include at least 1 second of black video on either side of each entry.

Audio footage must be primarily music (except where noted). Excessive narration or dialogue may be grounds for disqualification. Dialogue recorded by the editor is perfectly OK as long as the video contains primarily music.

Entries submitted for the Trailer/Parody category may have audio taken from a theatrical movie trailer or TV commercial. Custom trailers with elements of dialogue are also acceptable. Entries for this category must not have any commercial studio logos. Parodies of the original logo are okay.

Entries should be at least 30 seconds long, but no longer than 4 minutes. Any entry longer than 4 minutes may be accepted on a case-by-case basis; anything longer than 6 minutes will not be allowed.

Entries MUST NOT contain:

* Studio bumpers, eyecatches, or video credits. We will create custom, uniform title cards based on the information you provide. * Any visible watermarks or logos (such as channel bugs or Divx logos). * Any visible subtitles, either from fansub footage or a commercial release. Subtitles added by the editor are acceptable. * Excessive nudity, violence, or offensive language. The contest will be screened with a PG-13/TV-14 audience in mind.

T-MODE reserves the right to disqualify any video from the contest for any reason, including (but not limited to) any video that does not meet the content guidelines above.

Digital Format: What’s the technical stuff?

All entries must be submitted digitally via a URL link through YouSendIt or MegaUpload. Your files should use the following naming convention: “First initial, Last name_AMV Category” (i.e. AName_Comedy.mpg). You may submit your entry in any common file format -- the more common the format, the bettter. AVI, MPG, and MP4 files are preferred, but as long as the file is playable, and that it looks good, it'll work for this contest. PLEASE SEND US THE BEST, CONTEST-READY FILE YOU CAN (larger file sizes are better) - it definitely makes watching the contest much better.

When encoding your entries, keeping the following in mind:

* Frame rate (fps):

23.976, 24, 29.97, 30. 23.976/24 fps content will be projected at the convention and encoded for DVD discs with 3:2 pulldown on playback. * Resolution:

Entries will be scaled and screened at 720×480. We will screen the contest for 4:3 playback, so please letterbox widescreen content before submitting. We will catch what we can if anything is not properly formatted, but we cannot guarantee that it will be displayed properly. Progressive or interlaced content is OK; please only use interlace if the vertical resolution is exactly 480.

* Audio:

Please use layer-II audio at 224 kb/s or better, stereo (not joint stereo), and 48 kHz sampling. AC3 audio meeting these specifications is acceptable. Do not use layer-III or MP3 because it is incompatible with DVD and our hardware.

Contest Info: What’s going to be shown?

The contest will be programmed for a timeslot of not more 90 minutes (1.5 hrs). If the entries’ total running time will exceed 90 minutes, entries will be cut. Such videos may be shown at an overflow screening during the convention.

The Finalist list will be announced at least within one week of the convention.

A minimum of two (2) videos will be required in each category to compete; only in the case of a lack of entries will there by any combining of categories.

There will be awards for each category in the contest, as well as a Best of Show and Staff Choice award. Other awards may be given out at our discretion.

Entrants need not be present to win awards; however, the fastest means of receiving an award is to be present or have a proxy present to pick up the award for you. If you will have a proxy at the convention to accept an award, please send an email to the coordinator with the name of your proxy.

T-MODE will mail out awards after the convention to those not present to receive them; however, this courtesy will only be extended to entrants from the United States.

Submission Info: I can’t wait to enter! Where do I send my entries?

To submit your entry to T-MODE’s AMV Contest, please complete the form below. You must fill out a submission form for EACH entry.

T-MODE may make public any information provided that pertains to your entries; however, NO personal contact information will be shared outside of the T-MODE AMV Contest coordinators.

As a reminder, by submitting entries to this contest, you certify that the entry is your own work, and that you have read the rules for this contest. Please note that the rules are subject to change.

Again, the deadline for entries is THURSDAY, March 31, 2011. If you have any questions, please contact our AMV Contest Coordinator at jeremy@tmode.org. Good luck!

~BRAKUS~Otakon AMV Theater staff, AWA AMV VAT staff"Whatever you do, enjoy it to the fullest. That is the secret of life."-- Rider (Iskander), Fate/Zero

Well, T-MODE was this past weekend in Rockville. It was a small turnout, and Saturday's weather didn't help things at all, but the contest went on as scheduled. The following videos were screened in the contest: